{"id":1221,"date":"2023-06-01T03:31:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T03:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-menarah-org.kentuniresestg.wpengine.com\/?p=1221"},"modified":"2023-12-21T11:47:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T11:47:55","slug":"the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-the-long-term-care-workforce-evidence-from-the-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/menarah.org\/ar\/the-impact-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-on-the-long-term-care-workforce-evidence-from-the-united-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"\u062a\u0623\u062b\u064a\u0631 \u062c\u0627\u0626\u062d\u0629 \u0643\u0648\u0641\u064a\u062f-19 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0642\u0648\u0649 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0627\u0645\u0644\u0629 \u0641\u064a \u0645\u062c\u0627\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0639\u0627\u064a\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0637\u0648\u064a\u0644\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u062c\u0644: \u0623\u062f\u0644\u0629 \u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0645\u0644\u0643\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062a\u062d\u062f\u0629"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A study led by Professor Shereen Hussein <\/a>has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a wave of unprecedented challenges for the United Kingdom (UK) long-term care (LTC) workforce. Shockingly, government policies primarily centred around safeguarding the National Health Service (NHS), inadvertently overlooking the risks faced by the LTC sector. One distressing consequence of this oversight was the discharge of approximately 25,000 older individuals from hospitals to LTC settings without adequate testing or quarantine measures. Furthermore, the provision of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) for LTC staff could have been much better during the initial months of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tragically, these oversights led to the rapid transmission of COVID-19 within care settings, resulting in a staggering increase in deaths and excess mortality, disproportionately affecting care homes. In the face of this devastating crisis, the Government’s response was perceived as slow and indecisive, leaving managers grappling with constantly evolving guidance. At the same time, care workers were forced to shoulder responsibilities traditionally performed by registered nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Retention and Sustainability of Social Care Workforce (RESSCW<\/a>) study, led by Professor Shereen Hussein and Dr Florin Vadean and funded by the Health Foundation<\/a>, started in 2019 and concluded in 2023. It aimed to help social care providers, commissioners, regulators, and policymakers understand the specific organisational and individual drivers of staff retention in the social care sector in the United Kingdom (UK). During the course of the RESSCW study, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives, including how social care services are provided and received and significantly impacted everyone involved within the care sector. As a result, the study team supported by the Health Foundation were able to expand on our aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on workforce retention and sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RESSCW COVID-19 study, adopted a mixed-methods approach, starting by reviewing policy documents and media accounts related to the onset of COVID-19 and the social care workforce in the UK, followed by in-depth interviews with employers and providers. Based on the findings of the initial stage, we developed and piloted a short survey to understand care workers’ experience. We ran the first \u2018pulse\u2019 survey from July to August 2020 and received nearly 300 responses. We analysed the data and complemented them with interviews with care managers and employers. We summarised the findings from the pulse survey\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and the discussions\u00a0here<\/a>. Based on the themes identified in the \u2018pulse\u2019 survey, we designed and piloted a longitudinal care workers survey with two rounds of data collection, Apr-Jun 2021 (1,037 responses) and Nov 2021- Jan 2022 (754 responses).\u00a0\u00a0Some of the findings from the first wave of the longitudinal survey are discussed in this\u00a0article<\/a>. The findings from the different strands of work were presented in this\u00a0video<\/a>. Figure 1 visually shows the stages of this research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1 Description of the RESSCW COVID-19 study methods and data<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the frailties of the social care sector in the UK, with care workers being left in more vulnerable positions than ever before. This study found that abuse, pay and the well-being of care workers are three essential aspects affected by the pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0With about 1,800 care workers during two COVID-19 waves in 2021, our study found that over a quarter had suffered some form of abuse during that period.\u00a0\u00a0Verbal abuse was most prominent (20%), followed by bullying (11%) and threats (7%) from individuals using the services, their informal carers and families, co-workers and the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSeeing the results, I think the most worrying thing is how much abuse care workers experience during COVID when they\u2019re doing challenging jobs, sacrificing their health\u2026as a society, we really do have to have a good look at ourselves and discuss why on Earth would we ever attack people who are doing such important work in such difficult times?\u201d<\/em> Karolina Gerlich, CEO (Care Workers\u2019 Charity)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the high number of abuse incidents among the participants in the study, shockingly, less than half of those who suffered verbal abuse reported their experience to a manager or supervisor, while just over a quarter claimed to have taken no action at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 care managers can be receptive and open to conversation and dialogue with care workers. So when care workers come to them with concerns or to report incidents, certainly listening and actually following through on actions to address the problem, I think, is a big way in which care workers can feel supported and they can feel like their voices are being heard.\u201d<\/em> Cassandra Simmons, Researcher (European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another alarming finding from the study was that workers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and workers from different nationalities suffered a higher proportion of abuse in the workplace. Specifically, almost half (40%) of the BAME participants in the study reported experiencing abuse compared with nearly a quarter (24%) of White British and a third (29%) of Non-British workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[\u2026] have beneficial financial packages and psychosocial attention or services to these workers. So I think one possible action and precisely your project is to improve the quality of life of persons working in long-term care in order for them to feel adjusted, to feel well, to feel part of the system rather than another rather than an adjunct to the system.\u201d<\/em> Marvin Formosa, Director (UN International Institute on Ageing) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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